Brian Ralston's
SelfTort

I started to write this song in the early 70's. I owes some of its feel to Jack Bruce's Harmony Row which I was playing on rotation at the time. I had written most of the musical component of the song at that time and when ad libbing to find a lyric the opening words of the song came out. I had no idea at the time what they meant, but they seemed to fit the "vibe" of the song. Unfortunately, I was unable at that time to take the lyrical component any further. I had expected that "N.I.C" would be the only record of my original compositions (apart from some old Sirrah tapes that might be floating around from the 70's), but the experience of recording it had been exciting and therapeutic, so I thought I would try for another. In the course of so doing I located an old exercise book in which I had scraps of lyrics and chord progressions, and the basic chord progression of "Son of John" with just the opening line of lyrics. Thirty odd years later, the words started to flow and we end up with this version. It is very easy to become tired of one's own songs, but this actually remains one of my favourites, even though it's been around longer than most of them.